POSTGAME NOTESThe attendance of 5,007 was the 6th-largest crowd in Baylor Ballpark history and the ballpark's largest for a postseason game ... Baylor is 34-4 at Baylor Ballpark this season and the Bears have won 27 of their last 28 home games ... Trent Blank tied his career-long outing with 8.0 innings pitched (3rd time) ... Blank moved into a 4-way tie for 4th on Baylor's single-season wins list with 11 - he's the first Baylor pitcher since 2000 with 11 wins in a season ... Baylor is 14-2 this season in games started by Blank ... Dan Evatt (career-high 12 games), Logan Vick (5 games) and Max Muncy (5 games) extended hitting streaks ... Muncy (career-high 34 games), Josh Ludy (15 games), Evatt (12 games) and Nathan Orf (8 games) extended on-base streaks ... Muncy's 34-game on-base streak is the longest by a Baylor player since Josh Ford had a 36-game streak in 2005 ... Orf was hit by a pitch for the 35th time this season, which ranks 2nd nationally and is 2 shy of the NCAA Division I record ... Ludy took over sole possession of 10th place on Baylor's single-season home runs list (16) and took sole possession of 4th on the Bears' single-season RBI list (70) ... Vick moved into a tie for 4th on Baylor's career walks list (131) ... Muncy made his 146th consecutive start at first base ... Vick hit his 15th career home run on a 1-1 pitch in the 1st inning and his 16th career home run on a 1-0 pitch in the 4th inning - it was Vick's 3rd career multi-HR game ... Vick joined Steve Macko (1977) as the only Baylor players to hit multiple home runs in a NCAA Tournament game ... Ludy hit his 16th homer of the season (21st career) on a 3-2 pitch in the 3rd inning ... Ludy joined Josh Ford (2005) as the only Baylor players with 3 home runs in a NCAA Tournament ... Orf (22nd career) and Adam Toth (18th career) recorded stolen bases ... Muncy (63rd career), Vick (55th career) and Cal Towey (36th career) had multi-hit games ... Towey had his 3rd career game with 2 doubles and Muncy has his 2nd career 2-double game ... Towey (23rd career) and Vick (18th career) had multi-RBI games ... Baylor is now 43-37 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including a 14-6 record in games played at Baylor Ballpark and a 5-5 mark in Super Regional games ... The Bears are 37-27 in the all-time series against Arkansas, which dates back to 1908.

June 9, 2012

WACO, Texas - Baylor is one win away from its fourth trip to Omaha after the Bears knocked off Arkansas, 8-1, in front of 5,007 fans in game one of the 2012 NCAA Waco Super Regional on Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

Baylor (49-15) will look to punch its ticket to Omaha and tie the school record for wins in a season when the teams meet against at 3 p.m. Sunday in game that will be televised nationally on ESPNUHD. If Arkansas wins Sunday's game, it would force a winner-take-all Super Regional title game at 3 p.m. Monday on ESPN2HD.

Trent Blank (11-1) became the first Baylor pitcher since 2000 with 11 wins in a season by allowing only one run on seven hits with one walk and five strikeouts in a career high-tying 8.0 innings. He threw 72 of his 109 pitches for strikes and got 14 groundouts against an Arkansas (42-20) lineup that plated its only run after the Bears carried a 6-0 lead in the sixth inning.

Logan Vick hit a pair of home runs to drive in three runs, Josh Ludy added his 16th home run of the season, Cal Towey went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, and Max Muncy finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Vick joined Steve Macko (1977) as the only Baylor players with two home runs in a NCAA Tournament game.

"I think we're just out there playing the game," head coach Steve Smith said. "Logan (Vick) having the day he had, and really the middle of the order from Logan to Cal Towey who got a couple of doubles and really battled with two strikes. Again, I just thought that from top to bottom offensively, we were hooked up pretty good. Coming into a game like this, it's exactly what you expect."

Arkansas allowed only one earned run on its way to a 3-0 record at last weekend's Houston Regional, but it took the Baylor offense only two batters to put two runs on the board. Nathan Orf was hit by a pitch for the 35th time this season - two shy of the NCAA record - and Vick deposited a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.

The Razorbacks threatened after a leadoff single and grounder put a runner at second with one out in the next inning, but Jake Miller fired to third to get Dominic Ficociello trying to advance on a grounder. That proved crucial, as Ficociello would've scored when Matt Vinson followed with a single, but Blank was able to escape the inning unscathed.

Miller also had a pair of highlight-reel plays from deep in the hole at shortstop in the fifth and eighth innings. On the latter play, Muncy shifted to the far side of first base to receive the throw and was stepped on by the runner.

"Jake (Miller) and Max (Muncy) both had great games," Smith said. "Muncy got stepped on that one play, which is really unavoidable when he is on the middle of the bag. He does a great job adjusting to throws. I think people generally take first base play for granted. It's much more difficult than you think."

Ludy led off the third inning with a solo homer, and Muncy and Towey added doubles to build the Bears' lead to 4-0. Vick delivered his second homer of the day in the fourth, and Dan Evatt singled and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.

Arkansas got on the board against Blank when Ficociello followed a one-out single with a double down the right-field line, but Blank got a ground out and a pop out to escape the inning with the Bears leading 6-1. Baylor added insurance runs when Towey hit a two-out RBI single in the seventh and Orf knocked a RBI single in the eighth.

Arkansas starter DJ Baxendale (7-5) took the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in 4.0 innings. Baylor worked his pitch count up to 95 pitches through four frames, and the Arkansas bullpen combined to allow two runs on six hits over the final 4.0 innings. Ficociello had the Razorbacks' only RBI and finished 3-for-4 with a double.

The only other hit allowed by Blank came on a two-out single in the eighth, and it looked like his day might be over when Smith made a visit to the mound, but Blank remained in the game and got the final out of the eighth. Crayton Bare worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the win.